London - Nice - Karima - Aden

On September 24, 1978 at 12:00 AM, London - Nice - Karima - Aden experienced a crash involving Douglas C-47 Skytrain (DC-3), operated by Warbirds of Great Britain, with the event recorded near Karima Northern (<U+0627><U+0644><U+0634><U+0645><U+0627><U+0644><U+064A><U+0629>).

The flight was categorized as delivery and the reported phase was flight at a desert crash site.

2 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 2 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 2, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. The crew was completing a flight from London-Gatwick to Aden with intermediate stops in Nice and Karima, and was supposed to deliver the airplane to Alyemda in Aden. Technical problems occurred on the leg from Gatwick to Nice and the crew was forced to divert to Toulon where spark plugs and carburetor were changed on the left engine. While flying in the region of Karima, the right engine oil pressure and cylinder head temperature exceeded the limits and the propeller oversped. In such conditions, the crew feathered the propeller when the left engine backfired shortly later. The captain decided to make a belly landing in a desert area about 11 km northeast of Karima. While both pilots escaped uninjured, the aircraft was destroyed by a post crash fire.

Aircraft reference details include registration G-BFPU, MSN 15247/26692, year of manufacture 1944.